Apparatus and method for multi-spectral clip-on architecture

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method improve sight. The apparatus includes a first sight configured to view a scene. A second sight is configured to alter content representative of the scene in a first manner to form first altered content. A third sight is configured to alter content representative of the scene in a second manner to form second altered content. An image combiner is configured to combine the second altered content with the first altered content to form combined altered scene content.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present patent application is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/213,836, entitled “Apparatus and Method forMulti-Spectral Clip-On Architecture,” filed Aug. 19, 2011, which claimspriority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 61/401,836, entitled “System and Method for Multi-Spectral Clip-OnArchitecture,” filed on Aug. 19, 2010, the contents of eachaforementioned applications are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates generally to optical systems and, morespecifically, to an apparatus and method for multi-spectral clip-onarchitecture.

BACKGROUND

Often, it is desirable to enhance normal vision when viewingimages/objects. In the weapons industry, weapons generally includeviewing enhancements such as, for example, a rifle sight, a telescope, avideo camera or other optical viewing system. These enhancementstypically augment normal vision and improve performance.

However, in different conditions the performance of certain enhancementsmay be less than desirable. For example, different enhancements designedfor use during the day may perform poorly at night time or in otherdegraded lighting environments.

Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method that improvesviewing in poor visible viewing conditions. In particular, there is aneed for an apparatus and method for enhancing viewing through opticalsystems.

SUMMARY

In one exemplary embodiment an apparatus for improving sight isprovided. The apparatus includes a first sight configured to view ascene. A second sight is configured to alter content representative ofthe scene in a first manner to form first altered content. A third sightis configured to alter content representative of the scene in a secondmanner to form second altered content. An image combiner is configuredto combine the second altered content with the first altered content toform combined altered scene content.

In another exemplary embodiment, an apparatus for improving sight isprovided. The apparatus includes a first sight configured to view ascene. A mount is positioned along a path between the first sight andthe scene. A second sight is adapted to be mounted onto the mount. Thesecond sight is configured to alter content representative of the sceneto form altered content and display the altered scene content via thefirst sight.

In another exemplary embodiment, a method for improving a view of ascene at a first sight is provided. Content representative of the sceneis altered in a first manner using a second sight to form first alteredcontent. Content representative of the scene is altered in a secondmanner using a third sight to form second altered content. The secondaltered content is combined with the first altered content to formcombined altered scene content. The combined altered scene content isdisplayed and viewable through the first sight.

Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may beadvantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases usedthroughout this patent document: the terms “include” and “comprise,” aswell as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation; the term“or,” is inclusive, meaning and/or; the phrases “associated with” and“associated therewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean toinclude, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be containedwithin, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with,cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to orwith, have, have a property of, or the like. It should be noted that thefunctionality associated with any particular controller may becentralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. Definitions forcertain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document,those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many, ifnot most instances, such definitions apply to prior, as well as futureuses of such defined words and phrases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of this disclosure and its features,reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a multi-spectral optical systemaccording to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example configuration for a multi-spectral opticalsystem according to the present disclosure; and

FIG. 3 illustrates another example configuration for a multi-spectraloptical system according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure describes a system and method for amulti-spectral architecture that augments a day weapon sight withmultiple sensor-augmented channels for use in night time, degraded, orother conditions that favor the use of selected sensors. While the addedimage sensors may be referred to herein as “night time image sensors” or“night time sensors,” or “infrared sensors” it will be understood thatsuch sensors may be used during the day time and/or under other lightingconditions as well.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a multi-spectral optical system100 according to the present disclosure. Optical system 100 includes afirst sight 104, a second sight 106, a third sight 108 and an imagecombiner 110.

In this illustrative example, a user 102 employs the first sight 104 toview a scene 112. In one embodiment, the first sight 104 is a day sightfor viewing objects in the scene 112. The first sight 104 may be anoptical system that provides the user 102 with a magnified view of thescene 112 in the spectrum of visible wavelengths. As will beappreciated, in one application, the first sight 104 is attached to aweapon 114 and used to target the weapon 114. In another application,the first sight 104 may be used for surveillance or other viewingpurposes.

In environmental conditions that degrade or prevent viewing of the scene112, the user 102 may introduce and use the second sight 106. The secondsight 106 typically provides a sensor-augmented view of the scene 112,at unity magnification, and substantially without deviation of theapparent angle to the scene 112 as compared to the apparent anglewithout the second sight 106 installed. For example, during nighttime,the user 102 may add a second sight 106 as a night scope to see objectsin the scene 112. The second sight 106 may be referred to as a “clip-on”sight because it is configured structurally to clip/attach/mount ontoand off a mounting base 116 on the weapon 114. The mounting base 116 isa surface on which attachments may be mounted to the weapon 114 (e.g.mounting rail).

In one embodiment, the second sight 106 captures an image of the scene112 in a different waveband, converts the scene content into a visiblewaveband and displays the converted scene content to the user 102 viathe first sight 104. In another embodiment, the second sight 106 mayfunction as an image intensifier. For example, second sight 106 capturesan image of the scene 112 in visible and/or near-visible wavelengthsthen generates and displays an intensified or amplified image to theuser 102.

In some embodiments, the second sight 106 includes functionality todisplay the converted or intensified scene content in a characteristiccolor (or colors). The use of color may simplify the ability of the user102 to recognize the operating waveband used by the second sight 106 (ordistinguish the image generated by the second sight 106 from the imagegenerated by the first sight 104).

In given applications, the user 102 may also want to observe the scene112 in a waveband different than that used by the second sight 106.Viewing the scene 112 in two wavebands may reveal information about thescene 112 that is not discernable by viewing only a single waveband. Insuch embodiments, a third sight 108 is included in the system. Similarto the second sight 106, the third sight 108 functions to provide asensor-augmented view of the scene 112, at unity magnification, andsubstantially without deviation of the apparent angle to the scene 112.In another embodiment, the third sight 108 could electronically oroptically magnify the scene 112 for surveillance operations.

To enable viewing of the images generated by both the second sight 106and the third sight 108, optical system 100 includes an image combiner110. Image combiner 110 receives the images generated by the second andthird sights 106, 108 and combines them into a composite or combinedimage enabling the user 102 to view the combined images via the firstsight 104. In one example, the image combiner 110 optically superimposesthe image output from the third sight 108 onto the image output from thesecond sight 106.

Examples of the image combiner 110 may include a fold mirror or coatedprism that partially intrudes into the field of view from the side, or acenter mounted fold mirror or prism. In one example, the image combiner110 is a scene injection device. Examples of scene injection devices aredescribed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,483,213 and 7,554,740, assigned to theassignee of the present disclosure, and which are incorporated herein byreference.

As previously described, the third sight 108 may display converted orintensified image/scene content in a characteristic color (or colors)different from a characteristic color used by the second sight 106. Inthis way, the user 102 can distinguish scene waveband content producedby the third sight 108 from that produced by the second sight 106. Othermodes of enhancement, such as, for example, edge enhancement or objectoutlining, could be used in combination with or instead of colordifference(s). These other modes of enhancement may assist the user indistinguishing between the separate images of a combined image, and mayhelp to limit the reduction in overall contrast that may occur when twoindependent images are superimposed.

The illustration of the optical system 100 is not intended to imply anyparticular physical or architectural limitations in which differentembodiments may be implemented. Other components in addition to and/orin place of the ones illustrated may be used. Some components may beunnecessary in some embodiments. Also, the blocks are presented toillustrate some functional components. One or more of these blocks maybe combined and/or divided into different blocks when implemented indifferent embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example configuration for a multi-spectral opticalsystem 200 according to the present disclosure. In this illustrativeexample, the optical system 200 includes a first sight 204, a lowersight 206 and an upper sight 208.

The lower sight 206 generates a sensor-augmented image of a scene and ismounted or attached (e.g. clip-on) to a mounting base (not shown in FIG.2, e.g. mounting base 116 in FIG. 1). The lower sight 206 provides thisview at unity magnification and without deviation of the apparent angleto the target that would appear without the lower sight 206 installed.Sight 206 is also referred to as “inline” because its line of sight isin line with the optical axis of the sight 204. In various embodiments,the lower sight 206 includes one or more nighttime sensors enabling thegeneration of the sensor-augmented image. In another embodiment, thelower sight 206 is a thermal inline sight or an image intensified inlinesight. In still another embodiment, the lower sight 206 may be a TANS®intensified night sight, manufactured by OmniTech Partners, Inc.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the system 200 includes the uppersight 208 that is mounted to the lower sight 206 and/or the mountingbase (not shown, e.g. mounting base 116 in FIG. 1). The upper sight 208includes one or more night time image sensors which may be the same,similar or different type than those embodied within the lower sight206.

The upper sight 208 includes input optics in a sensor 212 to form animage output display with output optics 210. A portion of the outputoptics 210 is disposed or positioned between the lower sight 206 and thefirst sight 204. One embodiment of the upper sight 208 may include anoptical image generator and injector as described in U.S. Pat. No.7,554,740, while other embodiments may utilize any other suitable beamcombining optics or scene injector. The upper sight 208 also providesunity magnification and is internally optically aligned so that theapparent angle of its output image is essentially the same as the lineof sight of its input image. The mechanical alignment between lowersight 206 and upper sight 208 may not be critical to provide the user202 with an unaltered line of sight originating from either lower sight206 or upper sight 208.

With only the lower sight 206 installed, the user 202 observes the imageoutput produced by the lower sight 206 through the first sight 204. Whenthe upper sight 208 is added and installed, the user 202 observes theimage output from the upper sight 208 as optically superimposed upon (orcombined with) the image output of the lower sight 206. This combinedimage provides the user 202 with a multiple sensor view of the scene.Utilization of multiple sensor views provides an enhanced view of thescene and results in improved targeting and viewing. Both the lowersight 206 and the upper sight 208 are substantially insensitive toalignment problems with respect to the first sight 204 because eachincludes unity magnification and does not vary the apparent angle fromthe user 202 to an object in the scene.

In one embodiment, the upper sight 208 may be configured to mechanicallyinterface (e.g., attach, mount) with the lower sight 206, and the uppersight 208 may be attached or detached from the lower sight 206 asdesired needed. In another embodiment, the upper sight 208 is configuredto mechanically interface with a mounting base/rail or other surface(e.g. mounting base 116 in FIG. 1) of a weapon (e.g. weapon 114 in FIG.1 or other underlying support structure) to which the first sight 204and the lower sight 206 are also interfaced/mounted. In anotherembodiment, the upper sight 208 may be configured to mechanicallyinterface with both the lower sight 206 and mounting base/rail or othersurface.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, at least a portion of the upper sight208 (e.g., the input optics 212) is disposed or positioned directlyabove the lower sight 206. In a different embodiment, the relativeposition or orientation of the upper sight 208 with respect to the lowersight 206 may be changed (e.g., the upper sight 208 is no longerdirectly above the lower sight 208, such as along its side). In suchembodiments, the centerline (or optical axis) of the upper sight 208 maybe left or right of the centerline (or optical axis) of the lower sight206 and the centerline (or optical axis) of the first sight 204.Accordingly, the upper sight 208 may be in any other relative positionwith respect to the first sight 204 provided it is able to function asdescribed and intended herein. For example, the optical centerlines ofthe lower sight 206 and the upper sight 208 may be close enough toparallel to allow outputs of the lower sight 206 and the upper sight 208to partially overlap.

However, it should be understood that neither absolute parallelism or astatic orientation between the mechanical axes of lower sight 206 andthe upper sight 208 may be required for proper operation, since theapparent angle from the location of the user 202 to a point in the sceneis undeviated by either the lower sight 206 and the upper sight 208.This behavior may be the result of the unity magnification and input tooutput optical axis alignment of lower sight 206 and upper sight 208.For example, because lower sight 206 and upper sight 208 may notindependently alter their independent lines of sight, when combined theresultant combined line of sight is also unaltered. Similarly, themechanical axes of the lower sight 206 and the upper sight 208 do notneed to be parallel with respect to the optical axis of the first sight204. For example, both upper sight 208 and lower sight 206 have alook-through line of sight that is optically independent from themechanical axis of either sight. For example, each input ray is parallelto each resultant output ray.

In these examples, the lower sight 206 is fully independent from theupper sight 208, and the lower sight 206 may operate without the uppersight 208 attached. Similarly, the upper sight 208 is independent fromthe lower sight 206 and may operate without the lower sight 206.

In further embodiments, the upper sight 208 and the output optics 210may be mounted in a common housing and attached and detached together asa single unit. Additionally, the output optics 210 and the upper sight208 may be separate, and may be separately mounted to the lower sight206 and/or underlying support. In such embodiment, the upper sight 208may be removed with the output optics 210 remaining installed to enablestatus indications or other visible messages generated by the outputoptics 210 to be injected into the image generated and output from thelower sight 206 (being viewed through the first sight 204).

FIG. 3 illustrates another example configuration for a multi-spectraloptical system according to the present disclosure. In the exampleconfiguration for the optical system 200 illustrated in FIG. 2, theupper sight 208 is mounted to the lower sight 206. In the exampleconfiguration for the optical system 200 a in FIG. 3, a mountingstructure 304 is provided for mounting the upper sight 208 in theabsence of the lower sight 206. In this example, the mounting structure304 is a mechanical substitute for the lower sight 206.

This configuration has the benefit that a user may not desire to utilizeboth the lower sight 206 and the upper sight 208 but desires to utilizethe capabilities or features provided by the upper sight 208. Thisconfiguration allows use of the upper sight 208 in a “look-throughconfiguration” with the first sight 204 alone.

Light 302 from an image/scene passes through (or alongside) the mountingstructure 304 to the output optics 210 for combining with the image fromthe upper sight 208 for viewing through the first sight 204. In oneapplication, this configuration could provide a look through visiblescene blended with a thermal scene.

In another embodiment, the mounting structure 304 may include an opticalfilter 306. For example, without limitation, the filter 306 may be apartial blocking filter, color filter, complete blocking filter or otherfilter suitable for enhancing the thermal overlay scene. The filter 306can be selected by the user for a particular environmental situation,and may include adjustability for transmission/color allowing the userto adjust the characteristics of the directly viewed scene to complementthe image/scene as output through the upper sight 208.

While this disclosure has described certain embodiments and generallyassociated methods, alterations and permutations of these embodimentsand methods will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly,the above description of example embodiments does not define orconstrain this disclosure. Other changes, substitutions, and alterationsare also possible without departing from the spirit and scope of thisdisclosure, as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a first sight configuredto view a scene; a second sight configured to alter contentrepresentative of the scene in a first manner to form first alteredcontent; a third sight configured to alter content representative of thescene in a second manner to form second altered content, the third sightconfigured to be mounted to and removed from the second sight; and animage combiner configured to combine the second altered content with thefirst altered content to form combined altered scene content.
 2. Theapparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a housing unit thathouses the image combiner and the third sight, wherein the third sightis configured to be mounted to and removed from the second sight bymounting and removing the housing unit from the second sight.
 3. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the third sight and the imagecombiner are separate from one another such that the third sight can beremoved from the second sight without removing the image combiner. 4.The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a first sensorin the second sight, the first sensor configured to augment a view ofthe scene in the first manner to produce the first altered content. 5.The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in combining the secondaltered content with the first altered content, the image combiner isfurther configured to display the second altered content in line withthe first altered content to form the combined altered scene content. 6.The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the combined altered scenecontent is viewable via the first sight.
 7. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the second sight is configured to display the firstaltered content via the first sight.
 8. The apparatus according to claim1, wherein the third sight comprises input optics that are separate frominput optics of the second sight.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 8,wherein the third sight is configured to display the combined alteredscene content via the first sight.
 10. The apparatus according to claim1, wherein, in combining the second altered content with the firstaltered content, the third sight is further configured to provide thecombined altered scene content viewable through the first sight at anapparent angle to a target in the scene that is substantially equal toan angle to the target viewable through the first sight without thesecond and third sights.
 11. A method for improving a view of a scene ata first sight, the method comprising: augmenting a view of the scene ina first manner to form first altered content using a second sight;augmenting a view of the scene in a second manner to form second alteredcontent using a third sight that is configured to be mounted to andremoved from the second sight; combining the second altered content withthe first altered content to form combined altered scene content; anddisplaying the combined altered scene content viewable through the firstsight.
 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein augmenting the viewof the scene in the first manner is done, at least in part, using afirst sensor of the second sight.
 13. The method according to claim 11,wherein augmenting the view of the scene in the second manner is done,at least in part, using a second sensor of the third sight.